1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to the field of shirt body presses and particularly to the control of air flow into the air bags of a conventional shirt body press.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shirt body presses have been used in the dry cleaning and laundering field to quickly and effectively press the shirt body of laundered shirts. A conventional shirt body press includes at least one mannequin or buck upon which the shirt body is supported and forward and rear pressing plates for pressing the shirt body therebetween.
Some shirt body presses are equipped with a mannequin which includes inflatable air bags at each side and proximate each shoulder. These air bags are inflated with air to stretch the shirt body at its sides and shoulders and to hold the shirt body in place while the press plates close thereby avoiding the creation of wrinkles in the shirt body during the pressing operation. This inflation occurs in two stages: a soft, or initial, air stage during the initial closing of the press plates to ensure the shirt body remains stationary followed by a full air stage to assist in the pressing operation.
The air bags are typically porous and therefore must be continuously subjected to forced air during desired inflation periods. Unfortunately, these air bags tend to deteriorate over time requiring greater pressure to maintain inflation. Accordingly, the air flow rate of the soft air stage can be adjusted to compensate for the deterioration of the air bags in order to introduce air into the air bag faster than it is lost. While adjustment is not frequently required, it is desirable to control the rate of the soft air to properly inflate the air bags for the best finish of shirts. In conventional presses, this adjustment is unnecessarily difficult as it requires taking the press off line.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air control valve system for a shirt body press for controlling the flow of air into the inflatable air bags of a mannequin.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an air control valve system for a shirt body press which inflates the air bags in two stages.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an air control valve system allowing the inflation of the side air bags and the shoulder air bags to be controlled individually.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide an air control valve system for a shirt body press which controls the rate at which air flow increases from the soft air stage to the full air stage in relation to the press heads closing on the mannequin or buck.
Still further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism for easily adjusting the volume of initial inflation air.